1648 - Wither, George - Prosopopœia Britannica

George Wither / Wikipedia.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-16. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-07.

Allusion

They, from the poorest, and the basest sort
Of people, rose, to highest place in Court.
This is their Jus divinum, whatsoe're
Their friends, or they, would make themselves appear:
Which, by clear demonstration, I make good,
And, not by tales of Tubs, and Robin-Hood.
Thus, what they were; and, what they had to do,
And, what at best their pride hath brought them to,
I have declared; that, your King no more
May cheated be by them, as heretofore:
Or, think, that Law, or Conscience, him obliges,
To keep up their usurped Priviledges,
But, thereby know, that if he shall delight
In that, which is indeed the Royall-right;
He, their vaine services, no more, well need,
And, joy, that from such Flatt'rers he is freed.

IRHB comments

'A [ prosopopoeia [...] is a rhetorical device in which a speaker or writer communicates to the audience by speaking as another person or object'.

Editions

• Wither, George. Prosopopœia Britannica: Britans Genius, or, Good-Angel, personated (London, 1648).
• Wither, George. Miscellaneous Works of George Wither (Spenser Society, Nos. [12-13, 16, 18, 22, 24]) (1872-77), Fourth Collection, pp. 1-118. See p. 26.

Lists

• Not in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 315-19.
• Outside scope of Sussex, Lucy, compil. 'References to Robin Hood up to 1600', in: Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 262-88.

Notes